Israel Launches Gaza Airstrike after Rocket Fire

Israeli forces launched airstrikes in the Gaza Strip Monday evening, following rocket fire from the besieged territory, Israel’s army said.

“Earlier this evening, sirens sounded in multiple communities in the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council. A rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel and landed in an open area,” the Israeli army said in a statement.

“In response to the attack, [Israeli forces] targeted two terror sites of the Hamas terror organization in the southern Gaza Strip.”

No group has taken responsibility for the initial rocket fire and no injuries have been reported.

Earlier this month, a pregnant woman and her two-year-old daughter were killed when an Israeli air strike caused their home to collapse in southern Gaza City.

Their house collapsed when Israeli jets struck a nearby building, close to the al-Maslakh Mosque in southern Gaza City.

The Israeli army said in a statement at the time that the air strikes targeted “two Hamas weapon manufacturing facilities in the northern Gaza Strip.”

As tensions have spiraled since the start of the month, several rockets have been fired from the blockaded coastal territory into southern Israel, with Israel’s army frequently launching retaliatory air strikes.

Although much of the rocket fire launched this summer has been claimed by small militant groups operating in Gaza, the Israeli army has consistently held the territory’s de facto leaders Hamas responsible.

Israeli army spokesperson Peter Lerner said earlier this month that Israeli forces held Hamas responsible for any “act of aggression” from the Gaza Strip.

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